Augustine and the Mystery of the Church

James K. Lee

• Publisher: Fortress Press
• Year: 2017
• Print ISBN:
  9781506432632
• eBook ISBN:
  9781506420523
• Topic: Theology & Religion
• Subtopic: Biblical Reference

Over the course of the past two centuries, Augustine's ecclesiology has been subject to interpretations that overdraw the distinction between the visible and invisible dimensions of the church, sometimes reducing the church to a purely spiritual, invisible reality, over against the visible church celebrating the sacraments; the empirical community is incidental, at best, and can be discarded. By contrast, this book argues that the church is a mystery that is visible and invisible. Far from discarding the visible, Augustine places greater emphasis on the empirical church as his thought develops.

This study traces Augustine's ecclesiology from early writings to later works in order to demonstrate this thesis. His early thought is heavily influenced by Platonism and tends to focus on the ascent of the individual soul. After his study of Scripture in the 390s, Augustine gives priority to participation in the visible, sacramental community. In his mature thought, the church is one mystery (mysterium, sacramentum) revealed by Scripture, with visible and invisible aspects. This book explores Augustine's exegesis of biblical images of the church, such as body of Christ, bride of Christ, city of God, and sacrifice, in order to show how the visible community is intrinsic to the mystery of the church.

1

The Mystery of the Church

In^[1] a sermon on Psalm 79 delivered in 412, Augustine declares that the entire Psalm offers a testimony about the mystery of Christ and the church:^[2] “Therefore, this is a testimony that confesses both Christ and his vine; that is, the head and the body, the king and his people, shepherd and flock, Christ and his church—the total mystery (totum mysterium) of all Scripture.”^[3] This passage reveals an interpretive key for Augustine’s exegesis of Scripture. The “total mystery” (totum mysterium) of Scripture is the “whole Christ” (totus Christus).^[4] Head and members remain distinct, yet Christ and the church form one mystery, and all of Scripture is concerned with this mystery.^[5] Scripture contains the mystery and reveals it through many images and figures.^[6] Scholars such as Michael Cameron and Michael Fiedrowicz have drawn attention to this hermeneutical feature, which Cameron describes as Augustine’s “Christo-ecclesial” interpretation of Scripture.^[7] The ultimate referent of Scripture is Christ the head, or the members of his body, the church.

When speaking of the mystery of the church, Augustine at times uses the Latin cognate mysterium for the Greek μυστήριον,^[8] while at other times he uses sacramentum.^[9] Why use both mysterium and sacramentum to refer to the church? What is the significance of this distinction for Augustine’s ecclesiology?

In this chapter, I analyze the meaning of the terms mysterium and sacramentum within the evolution of Augustine’s thought, and I examine how these terms are used in relation to the church. Augustine inherits this distinction from early Christian authors such as Cyprian, Hilary, and Ambrose, while developing it further in order to identify particular aspects of the church. In Augustine’s early works, mysterium and sacramentum are used synonymously. However, in mature works after the late 390s, sacramentum indicates the revelation of a transcendent mysterium. Sacramentum can be used for biblical figures and images, sacred rites such as baptism and the Eucharist, and the mysteries of Christianity, including Christ and the church. In his exegesis of Scripture, Augustine often employs sacramentum to refer to the visible, empirical church celebrating the sacraments, and thus the visible community is intrinsic to the mystery of the church.

I begin by tracing the origin and development of the distinction between mysterium and sacramentum for the biblical term μυστήριον in the early Christian tradition. For Augustine, this is a distinction without separation, for the church remains one mystery, with visible and invisible dimensions. Augustine’s mature ecclesiology is predicated upon a theology of mysterium and sacramentum in which the church is the body of the one Christ, the total mystery of all Scripture.

Μυστήριον

In antiquity, the Greek word μυστήριον could mean “something secret” or “hidden,” or a “secret rite” of initiation.^[10] Mystery terminology was operative in philosophy, as in the works of Plato.^[11] Only those who have undergone specific philosophical training have access to certain kinds of knowledge. While it was once common to interpret early Christianity in terms of Greco-Roman mysteries and to understand many of its concepts as borrowed from them, a better recognition of the differences between pagan and Christian mysteries, along with a greater appreciation of the Jewish context of Christianity, has rightly placed a limit on such an approach.^[12] The technical language of mystery religions is absent from the New Testament,^[13] and scholars have effectively demonstrated that μυστήριον in the New Testament developed from a Semitic rather than a Hellenistic background.^[14]

In the Septuagint, μυστήριον appears twenty-one times, often as a translation of the Aramaic word raz,^[15] as in the book of Daniel. In apocalyptic literature, raz is a technical term meaning the “secrets” of God with regard to God’s plan for salvation, as revealed to certain privileged seers. In Daniel 2, μυστήριον appears eight times, always translating raz in reference to God’s hidden designs revealed in a dream or vision pointing to a further mystery, namely, the future of the kingdom. Thus μυστήριον has an eschatological sense insofar as it is used to indicate future events predetermined by God for the definitive establishment of the kingdom.^[16]

A significant aspect of μυστήριον in the Semitic tradition is the proclamation of the mystery. The Jewish prophets to whom the mystery of God’s plan is revealed (Dan 2:17–19) proclaim and interpret the received mystery.^[17] In contrast, the mysteries of pagan religions are never to be spoken, for the initiates, who alone have access to them, remain bound to secrecy.^[18]

The Semitic notion of μυστήριον forms the background for its use in the New Testament. In virtually every instance, it stan...

Table of contents

• Cover
• Title Page
• Copyright
• Table Of Contents
• Acknowledgments
• Abbreviations
• Introduction
• The Mystery of the Church
• The Church as the Body of Christ
• The Church as the Bride of Christ
• The City of God
• The Church as Sacrifice
• Conclusion
• Bibliography
• Index